FEDERAL COURT BARS ARIZONA TAX PREPARER

Prepared Fraudulent Returns Based on Michigan Man’s Scheme

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal judge in Phoenix has permanently barred Jeffrey R. Hunn, of Snowflake, Ariz. from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. U.S. District Court Judge Frederick J. Martone found that Hunn’s fraudulent tax return preparation had resulted in approximately $1.5 million in harm and potential harm to the federal Treasury.

The civil permanent injunction order requires Hunn to provide the government with his customers’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses within 12 days. The court also found that Hunn prepared tax returns for customers falsely reporting that they either received no income or substantially less income than they actually received. The returns falsely claimed refunds of all federal taxes withheld from customers’ wages.

The judge also stated in his order that Hunn’s actions follow a scheme promoted by Peter Hendrickson of Commerce Township, Mich. The government recently sued Hendrickson and several of his followers to recover erroneous refunds they allegedly received after filing returns similar to Hunn’s. More about those suits can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv06219.htm. Additional information about this case can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv06352.htm.

Fraudulent returns with false W-2 and 1099 forms are at the top of the IRS’s 2006 list of the “Dirty Dozen” tax scams, posted at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=154293,00.html.

Since 2001, the Justice Department has obtained injunctions against more than 200 tax fraud promoters and fraudulent return preparers. More information about the Justice Department’s efforts to stop tax scams can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2006.htm. Information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/index.html.